Politics This Week | Economist

A faction of Turkey’s armed forces attempted a coup, but was defeated by other military units, police and crowds of civilians. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan launched a crackdown, arresting or purging thousands of military officers, judges, academics, journalists and others. The government accused Fethullah Gulen, a Muslim cleric based in America, of plotting the coup (which he denied), and sought his extradition. The EU and America warned Mr Erdogan not to crush democracy. See article .

A Tunisian resident of France drove a lorry through crowds of pedestrians celebrating Bastille Day in Nice, killing 84. Islamic State claimed responsibility, but police found no evidence he had pledged allegiance to the group, though he had watched violent jihadist videos. The French government said it would extend the country’s state of emergency. See article.

In Germany, a 17-year-old Afghan refugee was shot dead by police after he attacked passengers on a train with an axe, injuring five people.

Pavel Sheremet, a muckraking journalist, was killed by a car bomb in Kiev. Working for Ukrainska Pravda, he had written exposés of government corruption in Belarus, Ukraine and Russia over several decades. Petro Poroshenko, Ukraine’s president, called for an EU inquiry into his death.

The effort by MPs in Britain’s Labour Party to topple Jeremy Corbyn as leader intensified. To avoid splitting the anti-Corbyn vote one challenger, Angela Eagle, withdrew in favour of another, Owen Smith. However, Mr Smith soon came under pressure over his previous job working for drug companies. For a party on a mission to gain credibility, the choice between a candidate who shilled for “Big Pharma”, or a leader with rock-bottom parliamentary support, may be a bitter pill to swallow.

In her first week as Britain’s prime minister, Theresa May cruised through a crucial parliamentary vote on the renewal of Trident, the country’s nuclear deterrent. Trips to Berlin and Paris followed, as Mrs May met Germany’s Angela Merkel and France’s François Hollande. Convincing European heads of state of her desire to achieve a mutually beneficial Brexit may prove difficult. She ruled out holding any talks this year.

Throwing his hat in the ring

The Republicans held their convention, nominating Donald Trump for president. There was some mild excitement when Republicans still opposed to Mr Trump’s candidacy tried to register their protest on the convention floor. They were drowned out by rock music. Ted Cruz, a rival in the primaries, was booed off the stage when he refused to endorse him. See article.

Mr Trump, meanwhile, said that if he were president, America would come to the aid of the Baltic states if they were invaded by Russia, only if they “fulfil their obligations to us”. Mr Trump has signalled before a lack of commitment to the NATO alliance.

The issue of policing featured heavily at the convention following the latest shooting of police by a black gunman. Three officers were killed in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, by a former marine who lured them into an ambush close to police headquarters. See article.

A death in the family

Pakistan arrested the brother of a social-media star, after he confessed to killing her for the family’s “honour”, because “girls are born to stay at home.” Qandeel Baloch rose to fame by posting cheeky, politically controversial videos on Facebook. Hailed by some as a feminist, she was reviled by conservative clerics. Her brother strangled her at home. See article.

America’s Justice Department began proceedings to seize assets involved in “an international conspiracy to launder funds” from 1MDB, Malaysia’s state investment fund. Investigators in America, Switzerland and elsewhere have been piecing together a money trail in a suspected multi-billion-dollar scam involving senior politicians. See article.

A prominent liberal-leaning journal in China, Yanhuang Chunqiu, stopped publication after the dismissal of its senior editorial staff by the state-affiliated academy that supervised it. With support from many retired officials, the journal had often published articles at odds with the Communist Party’s line, especially on historical issues. President Xi Jinping has launched a campaign to tighten party control over the media.

Reinforcing peace

The African Union proposed deploying additional troops to South Sudan after recent clashes left hundreds of people dead. The proposed peacekeeping force will join the UN’s 12,000-strong mission already on the ground to maintain a tenuous peace deal signed last year.

Meanwhile, the AU was forced to extend the term of chairman Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma by six months, after a summit in Rwanda of African leaders failed to settle on her successor. None of the three contenders was able to attain the two-thirds majority required.

Israel’s Knesset passed a law that will allow it to impeach any member accused of racial incitement or supporting violence against the Jewish state. Critics said the controversial law was aimed at Arab lawmakers and would harm democracy.

Three members of the French special forces died in Libya when their helicopter was shot down by an Islamist militia. The militia claimed that French jets bombed its positions in response, raising the prospect of an escalation in fighting.

A quick dash to the shops
More than 100,000 Venezuelans, suffering from shortages of food and other basic goods, crossed the border into Colombia to buy them. This was the second time Venezuela had opened its border recently to allow its citizens to go shopping. Venezuela’s government shut the border last year because, it said, paramilitaries and criminals were crossing it to enter the country.

Mexico enacted laws that establish a long-awaited national “anti-corruption system”, which creates independent authorities to monitor, investigate and punish corruption. Announcing the measures, Mexico’s president, Enrique Peña Nieto, apologised for his role in a scandal in 2014, in which his wife acquired a $7m house from a government contractor, but said he did not break the law.